Sears Holdings has many assets: mostly, stores in malls that are slumping toward irrelevance, and strong brand recognition and loyalty among Americans over age 50 or so. The company is fighting to stay in business, and current efforts like offering Sears Canada stock to investors and selling stores to a real estate investment trust and leasing them back are part of that effort. Is all of this working? Well, Sears leadership sounds optimistic. [More]

Kmart must pay $102,000 to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on behalf of a Maryland man who says the company reneged on a job offer when he couldn’t provide a urine sample for a drug test because of his kidney disease and dialysis. [More]

As Sears Holdings, the parent company of Kmart and Sears, tries to save itself from impending doom, the company is closing a number of its weaker stores. In the current round of cuts, Kmart stores are heavily affected, but the company wants to assure residents of one California town that in spite of empty shelves, their local Kmart store is not about to close. [More]

The new year has barely started, but it’s already time to shed a few more tears for Sears. The American retailing legend is trying to stage a comeback as a place where Americans are willing to shop again. Part of that comeback is shedding stores and facilities that it no longer needs. It’s time to add facility to that list: a parts distribution center in Dallas that employs 77 people. [More]

If you’re one of the many upset people we’ve heard from after Kmart canceled many layaway orders and at first, told some customers refunds might not arrive in time to buy replacement Christmas presents, keep your eyes peeled for that money to be coming back to you soon, if it hasn’t already. [More]

Americans seem to love and hate their Kmart and Sears stores: our posts linking to unofficial but comprehensive closing lists have been very popular in the last few weeks. Americans apparently love to complain about their Sears Holdings stores, but don’t really want them to go away. Sears Holdings CEO and chief manifesto-writer Eddie Lampert recently took to the company’s blog to explain why the chain is getting rid of up to 200 stores. [More]

Layaway is a useful tool that some retailers only offer during the holiday season. Let lets consumers without access to credit pick out gifts and pay them off over time––and, as one mother pointed out to me, keeps gifts hidden at the store, far away from impatient, snooping kids. Layaway was dying out before the Great Recession, and came back with its own folk heroes: the Layaway Angels. [More]

The secret to successfully shopping at Kmart is to spend as little time inside a Kmart as you can. We think that’s the message of a new Kmart commercial, which portrays the best shopping trip to Kmart as one in which you spend approximately three seconds in the store: long enough to grab your online order, but not long enough to notice the broken floor tiles. [More]

There’s more cost-cutting planned at Sears Holdings through the end of this year and the beginning of next year. That news shouldn’t surprise anyone, but the total has increased to 39 Sears stores, and 70 Kmart stores, along with one Sears distribution center, one Kmart distribution center, and three Sears repair centers. [More]

Should stores be open on Thanksgiving Day? While some businesses, such as hotels, gas stations, airlines, and even restaurants must be open to keep civilization running and make sure other people can get to their destinations and enjoy their holidays. Yet many non-essential businesses are open. Like Kmart. The child of one Kmart employee is unhappy about this, and wants the store to consider maybe giving her mom, a 21-year employee, the day off. [More]

This year, Kmart is sticking with its dubious tradition and opening on Thanksgiving Day. Like last year, they’re opening at 6 A.M., and will keep the doors open for 42 consecutive hours until midnight on Saturday. Maybe if they keep the doors open for that long, someone will wander in. [More]

Right now, there are two seemingly incompatible things going on in Kmart stores: the retailer is pushing layaway contracts for the holiday season, and also closing many stores. While the company insists that this should not lead to customer confusion, it took a while for some stores to get on-message. [More]

Sears Holdings wants you to know that the rumors of planned store closings by the end of this year are wrong. After a report earlier today put together information from local media reports about which Sears, Sears Auto, and Kmart locations are currently scheduled to close, Sears representatives reached out to major outlets like USA Today and the Chicago Tribune to explain that the reports were incorrect. [More]